Where's my train, Mr Costa?

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A blind woman who will now be forced to spend an extra hour each day travelling to and from work has just one question for the Minister for Transport Services: "Why, Mr Costa?"

Lee Kumutat and her guide dog Beau's regular morning train to Parramatta from Campbelltown has been cancelled, one of about 1000 services lost in a new CityRail train timetable introduced yesterday.

RailCorp chief executive Vince Graham said that by midday only eight people had made official complaints to CityRail, three of whom did not realise there was a new timetable.

"Inevitably, a new timetable takes a little time for people to get used to," Mr Graham said. "Early indications do show the implementation has gone quite well."

It won't be going "quite well" for Lee and Beau, however.

The Campbelltown woman's daily travelling time to and from work along the Cumberland line has been stretched from an already arduous three and a half hours to nearly five hours each day.

"There was just one peak-hour service direct from Campbelltown to Parramatta that I could catch in time to get me to work just on nine o'clock, however this train will no longer exist," Ms Kumutat said.

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"It's a disaster. Why is it necessary to remove services from a thriving area?"

Now she must catch at least two different trains to get to her work as a manager in a Rydalmere business on time.

Or she can catch the only direct weekday train that will get her there before 9am, the 5.53am from Campbelltown.

It wasn't going well for workers arriving at Flemington station before 6am for work at Sydney Markets, either.

Thomas Hosme, 44, from Lidcombe said: "It is very inconvenient. I had to get to the station 40 minutes earlier than normal."

Sydney Markets run at Flemington on the weekends, attracting thousands of people through the train system.

Flemington station trains have been drastically cut, with only two services an hour each way on the line, down from eight.

Crippling staff shortages and chronic late-running trains forced the Government to rush in the new schedule, with the aim of bolstering the number of workers available for the struggling weekday system.

Tens of thousands of commuters will arrive at stations across the Sydney system, optimistic the frustration that often accompanied trips to and from work or school will finally be over.

Although some weekend services have been slashed by up to 50 per cent in a move to make weekday services more reliable, commuters can expect more of the same chronic system faults that have plagued the network in recent times.

Shadow minister for transport services Michael Gallacher said a new timetable would not be enough to fix the train system.

"Michael Costa's title should be Minister for No Transport Service," Mr Gallacher said.

Greens transport spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon urged commuters to bombard the Transport Minister's office on Monday with complaints about the new timetable.

"The cuts to weekend rail services from this weekend are the result of deliberate attempts by Mr Costa to run down the state's rail services," Ms Rhiannon said.